


Confusion and Misunderstandings

by vix_spes



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Courtship, M/M, Oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-30
Updated: 2013-05-30
Packaged: 2017-12-13 11:11:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/823629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo can’t understand why, after ignoring him for the first portion of their journey, Thorin won’t let him out of his sight and is starting to give him gifts and just constantly be there…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confusion and Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dunderklumpen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dunderklumpen/gifts).



> written as part of the Happy April Swap. This is canon for the first film and then things will probably be different as I don’t really remember the book and I’m not going to get as far as them reclaiming Erebor.

Bilbo couldn’t help but be relieved when Thorin hugged him on the carrock, finally accepting that Bilbo wasn’t a complete waste of space on the Quest and that he was worthy of Thorin’s notice. The rest of the company, maybe with the exception of Dwalin, seemed to have warmed to his presence some time ago but Thorin had been the major sticking point. Not that Bilbo had blamed him for that; he would have had doubts about himself joining this Quest as well. He had had doubts about joining the dwarves on their Quest on more than one occasion. Still, he had made it so far which was further than he had ever expected to get.

What he hadn’t expected was that, rather than Thorin simply warming to his presence, the King had done a complete about face. The first time that Bilbo truly became aware that things had changed was when he stopped waking up completely frozen in the mornings. Even having made it this far, Bilbo wasn’t allowed to take a shift on sentry duty during the night for the simple fact that his eyes simply couldn’t see in the dark as well as the dwarves. He couldn’t deny that even if it did make him feel like he wasn’t pulling his own weight. Still, he wasn’t completely certain that he could have kept up with the brutal pace if he hadn’t had a full night’s sleep every night or as close as possible. The only problem was that every single morning he woke up absolutely freezing and even shivering on some occasions. There was a very simple reason for that. He was a hobbit of the Shire. He wasn’t hardy like the dwarves; he wasn’t prepared for this and he wasn’t used to these kind of situations. He certainly wasn’t dressed for them, not in his short trousers and velvet jacket, especially when you compared him to the leathers and furs of the Company.

And then one morning he woke up feeling toasty warm, a most unusual albeit pleasant feeling. He almost didn’t want to open his eyes for fear that it was all a lovely dream and that when he awoke the only thing that remained would be cold reality. Deciding that he couldn’t put this off forever, he opened his eyes and realised that reality very much lived up to the fantasy. Instead of just being covered by his own thin blanket, he found that he was instead covered by a beautifully thick, fur trimmed cloak, the collar of which had been carefully tucked in around his neck and shoulders. Burying his nose in the furs underneath his chin it didn’t take long for Bilbo to realise who the cloak belonged to, something that was confirmed when he glanced across the camp and saw that Thorin was missing his trademark furs. He couldn’t understand why Thorin had done it and, as the action was repeated every evening, why he continued to do it but Bilbo couldn’t deny that it gave him a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Then Thorin insisted that Bilbo learn how to use his sword, or as the dwarves all insisted as referring to it – his letter opener, as well as how to take care of it. Not that Bilbo could really complain about that. He had acted without thinking when he had moved to defend Thorin from Azog and had mostly just swung his sword, not really knowing what he was doing but hoping that it would do for the time being. Despite it being a very un-Hobbitish thing to do, Bilbo actually found himself enjoying the lessons in swordplay. Thorin did the bulk of the teaching alongside Dwalin and, when Bilbo expressed his surprise at both their ease and expertise at teaching a complete novice, Fíli and Kíli had revealed that their uncle and his friend had trained them since they were dwarflings and had taught them everything that they knew. His self-consciousness arose when it came to having to take care of the weaponry. Once he’d got the hang of it and could clean a sword without cutting himself in the process, he found it rather therapeutic. The repetitive actions needed were rather soothing and Bilbo didn’t mind doing it. Cleaning and taking care of weaponry seemed to be something that the dwarves all took care of by themselves; they would only ever take care of their own weapons. They only ever used their own weapons as well and Bilbo had looked on in curiosity as Nori had to hold back an almost apoplectic Dori when he realised that Ori was using Dwalin’s war hammer. Judging from the way that Dwalin choked and Kíli fell off the log that he was sitting on, the fact that Thorin took Bilbo’s sword to sharpen and clean one evening was something that was rarely done.

The one that seemed to raise eyebrows amongst the Company and surprised Bilbo the most was when Thorin offered to braid Bilbo’s hair. At first Bilbo had been shocked by Thorin’s actions but had agreed willingly enough especially when he had realised that his hair had grown considerably since they had left Hobbiton and he had no real means to cut it while they were on the road. He had only realised that there was something unusual about Thorin’s actions when he saw the sideways looks that he was getting from the rest of the Company. From then on, he paid close attention whenever the other dwarves redid their braids. Every single one of them did their own braids and, if anybody else did them, it was always a family member. The only exception was Fíli and Kíli who always did each other’s braids, something that they had apparently done ever since they were dwarflings. There was one other exception, but Bilbo wasn’t counting them as he wasn’t completely certain that he had actually seen what he thought he had; Dwalin and Ori sneaking away from camp and the gruff, burly dwarf carefully placing the braids back into the scribes hair before Ori returned the favour with Dwalin’s beard. Still, there was no denying that he enjoyed the feeling of Thorin’s calloused fingers carding through his hair and deftly braiding the tresses in a design that gained more than a few raised eyebrows from the older members of the company and stifled laughter from the younger.

He had tried to ask the other dwarves for clues as to why Thorin was behaving like this but it was all to no avail. He could ask Bifur as many questions as he wanted but he was never going to understand the answers while Ori had blushed a shade of red that Bilbo had only ever seen when Lobelia Sackville-Baggins was on one of her rampages. Bofur and Bombur had said that it wasn’t their place to answer his questions and both Balin and Dori had said the same while Nori had simply waggled his eyebrows and leered at Bilbo. Fíli and Kíli had been equally as useless chortling like fauntlings before Kíli, the more childish of the two, tackled Bilbo in a hug before dragging a reluctant Fíli into the mix. Having had no success with the rest of them, he finally resorted to Dwalin who seemed to be the closest to Thorin. He fared no better there although he did get more than a grunt which was what he had been expecting. Instead he was told in no uncertain terms that he should ask Thorin and all of his questions would be answered. The problem was that he wasn’t sure if he wanted to ask Thorin what was going on for fear that things would return to the way that they had been.

He had been so adamant that he wasn’t going to talk to Thorin about it, convincing himself that he was happy not knowing what was going on, but then they ended up staying at Beorn’s house. Under strict instructions from both Gandalf and Beorn to not venture outside the house after dark, the dwarves provided their own entertainment. After that first evening spent at Bag End, Bilbo knew that Dwalin played what looked like a violin and Bofur had his whistle. What he hadn’t known was that they weren’t the only ones with musical talents. Fíli and Kíli had produced smaller fiddles, playing several rousing jigs that Bofur had joined in with merrily. It didn’t take much alcohol for them to start singing, mostly drinking songs some of which sounded familiar to Bilbo from his rare trips to Bree before they started to turn into slower songs as the evening drew on. It took a lot of persuasion, mainly from Fíli and Kíli, but eventually Thorin was persuaded to participate rather than simply sitting on the edges smoking his pipe. Bilbo thought his eyes were going to fall out of his skull when Thorin, with more than a little reluctance, produced a beautiful harp from his pack and quickly but carefully tuned the strings. The pieces that Thorin played were obviously known to all of the dwarves but even though Bilbo wasn’t familiar with them he could certainly acknowledge that they were beautiful. And then Thorin played one final piece. This one sent shivers through him as Thorin’s voice wrapped itself around the Khuzhdûl, and as Bilbo looked around at the knowing looks the dwarves were sending his way not to mention the blushing faces of Fíli, Kíli and Ori, Bilbo knew that this one song was meant for him. Even if he didn’t understand what it meant.

If Bilbo had been in the Shire, Thorin’s actions this evening would have been a signal that he was interested in courting Bilbo. But that couldn’t be right could it? Gathering up all of his courage, he approached Thorin and asked if he could speak with him privately in a different room. When the dwarf agreed Bilbo led the way and, once they were in relative privacy, turned to Thorin and just blurted out his question, a blush on his cheeks.

“Tho-Thorin, are you trying to court me?”

“Well of course I am, what else do you think I’ve been doing all of this time?”


End file.
